The Wake Effect and Wind Farm Clustering
(2021) MVKM01 20211Department of Energy Sciences
- Abstract
- The wind energy industry is growing rapidly and as offshore wind expands in the Baltic sea, more and more clusters will be observed. The purpose of this work is to better understand the impact that wakes have on the electricity production for wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region. This report aims to answer the following research questions; 1) How big of an impact do wakes have on electricity production for future wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region? 2) How do different changes made to the layout of the wind farm cluster impact the resulting electricity production change due to wakes? 3) What are the economical implications of making layout changes in order to mitigate the impact of the wake effect? In... (More)
- The wind energy industry is growing rapidly and as offshore wind expands in the Baltic sea, more and more clusters will be observed. The purpose of this work is to better understand the impact that wakes have on the electricity production for wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region. This report aims to answer the following research questions; 1) How big of an impact do wakes have on electricity production for future wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region? 2) How do different changes made to the layout of the wind farm cluster impact the resulting electricity production change due to wakes? 3) What are the economical implications of making layout changes in order to mitigate the impact of the wake effect? In order to answer the research questions, the methodology was based on simulations done in the WindFarmer: Analyst software program (DNV GL, n.d.-a).
The results of this work has shown the importance of considering the wake effect for future offshore wind farm development. For clusters containing 20 turbines (16 MW), the lost electricity production due to wakes has been shown to stand for 4.8% of the gross yield when using 7D separation distance. When the separation distance was lowered to 4D, the loss of electricity production due to wakes stood for 14.1% of the gross yield.
Layout changes that were introduced in order to mitigate the impact of wakes, such as smaller rotor diameter and higher towers, showed modest improvements within the range of tenths of a percentage point. Other measures, such as sector management, resulted in a less desirable outcome. In the case of building neighbouring wind farm clusters (with a distance of ~3 km), the impact would be another 0.5 percentage points loss in electricity production relative to the gross yield. Therefore, key findings of this work are that it is most beneficial to build wind farms with larger separation distancing, both in terms of lowering the impact of wakes as well as profitability. However, this does not take into account how well the area is utilized or the total amount of electricity produced. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- How can one wind farm impact another wind farm’s electricity production by blocking the incoming wind?
When the wind passes through a wind turbine, it gets slowed down and thus resulting in less electricity production for the next coming turbine. This is called the wake effect, and can happen both within wind farms but also between two wind farms. In the later case, one wind farm can impact the other wind farm’s electricity production. This work is quantifying the impact of these effects.
It has been shown that a wind farm indeed can impact another wind farm’s electricity production. However, the biggest impact was seen within the wind farm. The impact of wakes within the wind was at least 10 times bigger than the impact between two... (More) - How can one wind farm impact another wind farm’s electricity production by blocking the incoming wind?
When the wind passes through a wind turbine, it gets slowed down and thus resulting in less electricity production for the next coming turbine. This is called the wake effect, and can happen both within wind farms but also between two wind farms. In the later case, one wind farm can impact the other wind farm’s electricity production. This work is quantifying the impact of these effects.
It has been shown that a wind farm indeed can impact another wind farm’s electricity production. However, the biggest impact was seen within the wind farm. The impact of wakes within the wind was at least 10 times bigger than the impact between two wind farms, and probably closer to 50 times bigger. The main reason behind this is that the separation distance between turbines is of highest importance when considering the impact on electricity production. To minimize the impact on electricity production, it would be beneficial to build wind farms with larger separation distances between the turbines. This would be the most economical option as well. However, it does not take into account the total amount of electricity produced or how well the area is utilized.
One of the components for achieving the climate goals and renewable electricity production is the development of offshore wind power. There is a need for sites that are both shallow enough in water depth and achieve high wind speeds. Higher wind speeds lead to higher achievable electricity production and shallow water depth imply lower costs. In the future, there is a risk of competition over the best sites, which can result in wind farms being placed closely to each other. In this case, the impact of wind farms being placed too closely would potentially result in an uncertainty of the electricity production. Uncertainties experienced in terms of electricity production is considered negative from actors involved in offshore wind power development.
This work can lead to a better awareness of the importance of planning the development of offshore wind in the Southern Middle Bank Region. This means both considering the layout within the wind farm, but also the location of wind farms relative to each other. In other words, this work exposes the importance of distancing for turbines within the wind farm as well as the importance of not planning wind farms too closely located which can result in undesirable outcomes for the electricity production.
This work can also encourage further research in order to investigate the possibilities of lowering the impact on electricity production within the wind farm as well as encourage an investigation of possible regulations for limiting the impact in between clusters that can reduce uncertainties for involved actors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9052002
- author
- Ciric, Igor LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- An assessment of wake effect impact on wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region
- course
- MVKM01 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- wake effect impact, wake mitigation measures, farm to farm wakes, Southern Middle Bank, wind farm clustering
- report number
- LUTMDN/TMHP-21/5470-SE
- ISSN
- 0282-1990
- language
- English
- id
- 9052002
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-10 10:04:35
- date last changed
- 2021-06-10 10:04:35
@misc{9052002,
abstract = {{The wind energy industry is growing rapidly and as offshore wind expands in the Baltic sea, more and more clusters will be observed. The purpose of this work is to better understand the impact that wakes have on the electricity production for wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region. This report aims to answer the following research questions; 1) How big of an impact do wakes have on electricity production for future wind farm clusters in the Southern Middle Bank region? 2) How do different changes made to the layout of the wind farm cluster impact the resulting electricity production change due to wakes? 3) What are the economical implications of making layout changes in order to mitigate the impact of the wake effect? In order to answer the research questions, the methodology was based on simulations done in the WindFarmer: Analyst software program (DNV GL, n.d.-a).
The results of this work has shown the importance of considering the wake effect for future offshore wind farm development. For clusters containing 20 turbines (16 MW), the lost electricity production due to wakes has been shown to stand for 4.8% of the gross yield when using 7D separation distance. When the separation distance was lowered to 4D, the loss of electricity production due to wakes stood for 14.1% of the gross yield.
Layout changes that were introduced in order to mitigate the impact of wakes, such as smaller rotor diameter and higher towers, showed modest improvements within the range of tenths of a percentage point. Other measures, such as sector management, resulted in a less desirable outcome. In the case of building neighbouring wind farm clusters (with a distance of ~3 km), the impact would be another 0.5 percentage points loss in electricity production relative to the gross yield. Therefore, key findings of this work are that it is most beneficial to build wind farms with larger separation distancing, both in terms of lowering the impact of wakes as well as profitability. However, this does not take into account how well the area is utilized or the total amount of electricity produced.}},
author = {{Ciric, Igor}},
issn = {{0282-1990}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Wake Effect and Wind Farm Clustering}},
year = {{2021}},
}